small Road Pro coolers?

I've had my Coleman 40 qt. since 1998. Works great. During that time I've had to replace the fan motor twice ($20 and 20 minutes each time) and from the sound of it replacement three is coming soon. Can't complain about that given it has and does run constantly for weeks at a time for what; 16 years now. It's doubled as a foot rest, cutting board, work bench, step stool, kid seat (not car seat - don't get the slamming fingers all worked up). You get the idea. It's clean but has its stains and scars and still runs like a Singer despite a rollover (loaned it to my cousin while on vacation and he rolled his truck). Do keep the fan fins clean and make sure it has plenty of room to blow out the warm air without it pooling around the intake. I use Q-tips and Windex for the fan fins. Dry Q-tip first then a Windex wet one. I use Windex b/c the wet residue evaporates completely. Do keep a couple of things in mind; it's a cooler, not a fridge. It can only cool the ambient air so if you crank the heater to inferno or leave it trying to cool in the tin box in the hot sun it's not gonna be all that cool inside. Crank the A/C to meat locker and with a solid fan it'll put frost on stuff and slush drinks. It doesn't have a thermostat. It only has two settings. Off and wide open. Kinda like my grandkids in that respect. Also be aware it builds up condensation inside so you'll need to put a hand towel in the bottom and change that out each week. Maybe twice a week if it's got a fresh fan motor and runs in higher humidity.

As far as Road Pro products I agree they are generally cheap in quality. I had good luck with the "lunchbox oven" but pretty much everything else Road Pro I bought was a POS and I'd have done better to spend a little more on a competitor's brand. When it comes to 12v. stuff I have had better luck thinking RV than trucking. Same things just a little more expensive but much better quality.

 

Aminal, that was an entertaining and informative post! Love the comparison of settings to your grandkids!

 

Thanks. Yeah. They're like that. But that's the nature of all kids at that age. About three feet tall old. LOL.

 

Mine is still in the basement from last summer.
It burned up in about 2 months.Where did you buy the replacement plugs?

 

I picked up a couple at Radio Shack...stretched out the life of the cooler, but didn't solve the problem. I like the CB posts idea, but in the Cascadia, the CB is above it all....

 

The RoadPro's are not very reliable. The switches burn up, and the fans are a non-standard size.

I like the Coleman, as many of you do.
I've had the plug go bad on one, and it wasn't easy replacing it. Most truck stop plugs are fused too small, with an odd sized fuse that the truck stops don't sell.
The ones that don't have a fuse will burn up in a day.

The Coleman fan can be replaced easily enough with any 80-100mm fan from any computer store. The originally sized 100mm fan is hard to find, however.
The most common sizes are 80mm and 120mm, and the 120 won't fit. Try to find an 80mm with the highest CFM rating if you can't get a 100mm.
I'm currently running an 80mm fan, and plan to get a 100mm fan before summer time. I don't think the 80mm is strong enough for it.


The idea of connecting to the CB terminals is a very good one. I'll remember it.

 

That's because the original fan is 92mm. 80mm fans work just fine, and are generally easier to find. Whichever you get, me sure to get ball bearing fans. They last longer.

 

I guess I should have actually measured it. Thanks for the info.
A 100mm fan should fit as well, however.

And like I mentioned, get the fan with the highest CFM rating.
The more air it moves, the better it will cool.

 

I bought an inverter and a small fridge. I have seen people use a 1500 watt inverter for fridge and turn off fridge to use the microwave.

 

Get a $900 Engel cooler those things are cheap!